Dissertation Structure & Format Guidelines for Effective Writing

It is not an easy task to decide on your dissertation structure. In fact, it is the foundation of all your research and writing. If you take it lightly and do not work hard, you may not accomplish your thesis writing goals. With this in mind, you must devise a solid structural plan on which your paper will be based. In this blog post, we are going to provide you with dissertation format guidelines for persuasive writing.

Moreover, if you are afraid of missing the deadline, you may seek help from expert PhD thesis writers, as we will guide you at the end. Consequently, you must read it till the concluding paragraph to get the most out of it.

Why Plan Your Dissertation Structure First?

Some may think that why shall they waste time on structuring a dissertation when they can start the research and analysis task right away. Well, the biggest perk of a well-organized structure is that it makes your dissertation more approvable. That is why it is essential to plan it first. To be more precise, it is like a skeleton; if it is not healthy, your whole work may collapse.

Every topic and subject have their specific requirements and needs. To put is differently, it is directly related to the field of your study. As in most of the cases, your teachers or the review committee are your readers. If they get an ill-structured dissertation, it will have a direct impact on your grades and marks.

Get Started with Dissertation Structure

Once you have chosen a topic and got approval for research, that is how you can start work on a solid structure.

First of all, you shall note down all the essential points that would be a part of your persuasive writing. It will be like a rough outline of your dissertation chapters. Regardless of which subject you are working on, the primary structural formula from introduction to the conclusion will remain the same.

However, a dissertation structure may vary from one educational system to another.  You can even seek help from your supervisor in this regard. Above all, you may shuffle the structure or change the sequence, but the basic formula will always be the same.

Title Page: First part of the Dissertation Structure

Your dissertation is just like a book, so it must have a title page that portrays its theme. Usually, it is the very first page where you must put all the necessary information. A typical title page will have the following:

• Title of your dissertation
• Writer’s name (of course that is you)
• Name of your educational institution with the department
• Last comes the date of submission.

In addition to the above, you may include some additional features for persuasive writing as per your institute’s formatting requirements.

Acknowledgements

It comes right after the title and has a description of those people who helped you in task accomplishment. It is up to you whose name you include or exclude. Even if any of your family members or friends sacrificed their time during your dissertation writing, you could include their name.

Dissertation Abstract

Whenever you have to write a detailed account of something, a summary or abstract must be included at the top. The main reason for it is to give an overview of what is coming ahead. If it is impressive, you will succeed in putting a great impression on the reader.

Main parts of an abstract

Word count may vary from topic to topic, but the primary constituents must include:

• Essential aspects of your dissertation
• How you accomplished the task
• Recap the results and outcomes with a brief conclusion at the end.

List of Contents

Technically known as the table of contents, it is the list of contents you have included in your paper. You must not miss a single point that is a part of your dissertation. In case you miss something, it will put a destructive impact on your supervisor and review committee as well. Best way to compile a good content list is to copy all your text in a new file and delete everything except the headings and subheadings. If you do not want to do it manually, the MS Word can also facilitate you by transforming all your headings into a well-organized table of content.

Tables and Abbreviations in dissertation structure

In the same manner, if you are writing an economics or mathematics paper, there must be figures and tables in your dissertation. You can list them separately in the form of a numbered content list.

If you are writing a literature dissertation, there might be a lot of abbreviations in your text. For your reader’s convenience, you can compile a list of all the abbreviations and include in alphabetical order. It will help the reader search their meaning and relativity to text quickly.

List of Specialized Terminologies

Technical writing may comprise of terminologies and specialized information varying from one topic to another. Scientific research papers are full of such words that the ordinary reader might not be familiar with. All that is made easy with the help of a glossary. Just like a dictionary, it is an alphabetized list of all the terminologies from your writing.

Introduction & Overview of dissertation Structure

A thoughtful and reflective introduction will inform the reader about what is coming up next and in which context. It shall always be relevant to the main subject and field of research you are following. To put it differently, it is a more extended version of your summary. It will be useful if you put some questions regarding the research and relate them to your work.

However, it shall never comprise of irrelevant information and misguiding facts. Just write it as if you are relating the whole essay in front of your teacher or classmates.

The framework of Theoretical review

No matter at which topic your dissertation structure is based, it must have a framework similar to work done by prior authors. Cases are often repeated with different results and research goals. That is why a literature review must be included in your dissertation format. For that purpose, you must consult books and writings related to your subject line. Especially those written on the same topic you have carried research upon. You must also critically consider each source with a brief overview from your side. Your point of view is most of that research. It will also give the impression that you have deeply analyzed each part critically.

Furthermore, you can point out various faults in the prior works. Also, you can suggest how to improve them in 2nd or third version. If possible, elaborate with examples from your working. Later on, you can base your research on all that theoretical structure.

Methodology: A reflection of Your Dissertation Structure

It is the most crucial chapter about the overall impression of your research work. Instead of the main subject, most of it will comprise of how you completed the task, what were various aspects of research and how you overcame the difficulties. Principal constituents of dissertation format shall include:

• Your analytical approach of the assigned topic
• Nature of your research work, for instance, was it quantitative or experimental, or even qualitative.
• Major participants in your research and analysis
• How did you filter the data for authenticity?
• Assessment that the techniques and overall approach of your methods is justified.

In short, a sound methodology will always be a storyline of how you accomplished your research goals. In particular, no unfair means were used during it.

Results and Sub-Questions

No matter which topic your research is based, it must be result-oriented. Though it is made a part of the discussion part in most cases, it is included separately. It also depends on the method you are following. However, it would help if you took care of the following aspects:

1. Your results must be co-related to hypothesis and analysis.
2. Where you feel necessary to use short descriptions to elaborate your results
3. If you are including raw numbers, better put them in the appendix rather than the conclusion.

Discussion

Some of the results may not fulfil all the essential requirements of your dissertation structure. You can further explain such parts in the discussion section. It will comprise of questions related to these results and their short answers. You can even add a sub-question to explain your point of view further. Your emphasis shall be on the implementation of these results to the overall framework of your writing.

Concluding Your Assignment Structure

Like the introduction, a conclusion is also one of the essential parts of the dissertation format. It helps the reader develop a better understanding of what you are presenting. Your overall writing might be bit technical, but a conclusion can be more straightforward and more self-explanatory. To put it differently, in a dissertation conclusion, you explain what your research is all about and what are its useful aspects. It can also be treated as a final chapter, so you can put whatever information you think can support your research work.

Bibliography, References and Appendices

Depending upon the citation style recommended by your institute, you must compile the list of references and sources you consulted during the research work. It will add to the authenticity of your work. Please consult your departmental rules before applying a specific citation style.

As far as appendices are concerned, these comprise the portion in which you include pieces that cannot be made part of your dissertation’s main structure. However, that information shall not be irrelevant.

Check for Errors and Flaws

No matter how well researched your dissertation is, if there are linguistic errors and flaws, all the impression will be wasted. It will have an impact on your marks and grades too. That is why a good dissertation shall always be flawless from all angles.

Best way to deal with that part of your task is to spare enough time for revision. After completing the thesis, you must go through it. Check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Usually, you may have to revise it several time before submission.

Why Seek Help from PhD Thesis Writers?

Regardless of how good you are at dissertation writing, sometimes you may not have enough time to meet the deadlines. Research and analysis are a time-consuming job, and students have to write a lot of papers during their academic course. Besides that, they have a social circle to maintain and other activities too. That is why often it is impossible to meet deadlines during academic writing. The solution to that problem is acquiring help from the online dissertation and writing services. They have reliable writers and teams of academics. You can hire their services to get your tasks fulfilled and attain the marks you have in mind.

Final Thoughts on Dissertation Structure

Academic dissertation writing is just like writing a short book. It must be well structured to save readers from any confusion. From the introduction to the conclusion, all the portions must be included as per requirements. End it with proper citation and referencing according to your institute’s citational requirements.